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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

My family is nuts!

Christmas was fun. It started with me getting up much later than I had planned on Christmas Eve. I was seriously behind in my daily quota of sleep and finally caught up, hence the late wake up. After taking forever getting my behind up and ready for the day I went to join in the mayhem at my sister's place. Just about every year for I don't know how long everyone gathers at her place for Christmas. She has the biggest house out of all of us and it just kind of ended up being the gathering place.

For the first time in days the drivers on the road were normal and not maniacs. I have been swearing, biting my nails, and dodging the idiots that have been on the road the last few days. To many close calls to count. Last minute shopping must be the reason for the crazy drivers on the road. When I got there family from far and near along with friends were already gathered there. Many were already well on their way to happy times.

So how is my family nuts? Well......lemme see. I will give you a short description of what we did on Christmas Eve.

Tequila shots with salt and lime.
Dinner of Tamales and Burritos.
Roasting Marshmallows on the fire pit.
Falling over in our chairs.
Playing pool and horseshoes.
Sending the young ones for a beer run. (yes, they were 21)
Fireworks galore.
Chasing each other with fireworks called fire balls.

So you see we don't do the normal things that most families do. Sounds like a party for summer time or the 4th of July huh! The one thing that was missing on the list was the guys didn't go out in the desert to go shooting their guns at varmints like they usually do. The end of night fireworks were the best. I was laughing and thinking this is not a normal Christmas Eve by most peoples standards but I wouldn't change a thing.

Christmas morning I was up early despite being up way to late to work a day shift. I volunteered to work since we were short at the hospital. I have done this lots of times since I am usually by myself and it gives my co-workers a chance to be with their families. Besides, I can miss the first part of the mayhem and go to my sisters when things calm down. After work I went straight to her house, scrubs and all, and made it just as they were serving Christmas dinner. Before I had a chance to eat shots were served up to get me caught up with the others. Can't have me missing all the fun. I actually ate real food and disregarded my diet. I figured I earned it and would deal with any payback and pain later.

There were tons of people at the house. We have a large family and also have tons of friends who came to join us also. Not quite as many as years past but still lots. Some years we have had up to 30 people at the house. Thankfully my sisters house is big enough to handle it. After letting all the good food settle for a bit another round of presents were opened. Some were wacky like a bag of Funions, a box Zingers, and funny shirts. One, which I gave to my nephew, started an all out war. I gave him a gift certificate to drive either a Ferrari or an Aston Martin. Everyone wanted that certificate and they were all trying to get it, steal it, or bribe it from him. He was smart and hid it right away but during the night others kept looking for it. It was the coveted present for the day.

The rest of the night was spent talking about the old days, catching up on each others lives, playing pool, playing games, looking at the young ones and feeling really old because they are really big now, and spending time with each other.